If you want to understand America’s youth at any given moment, ask the people who write books for them. As an author of young adult fiction, I’ve spent the past 13 years traveling to schools to talk to junior high students about my books and about the value of reading more generally. I’ve visited 500 schools in 38 states — and, while my impressions are anecdotal, nothing I can scientifically measure, I can vouch that there has been a disturbing shift in vibes among the next generation.
Kids in 2013 were still kids — awkward, spontaneous, goofy. They felt young to me, protected from adult problems by the bubble of childhood. Like all kids, they never wanted to be the first to laugh in a crowd. But once they were given permission, they emoted unabashedly. Many were outspoken, literate, optimistic. There was a sparkle to the masses, one that gave me energy through months of touring each year.
Now kids have a different look in their eyes. Tired, wired, wary. Mischief has been replaced with hollow stares and gallows humor. COVID-19 made it worse, but the signs were there before — like they’d been hit by a second, more long-lasting contagion that had no cure. Maybe it was the smartphones, growing in sophistication year by year, targeting their brains with algorithms and artificial intelligence that coax them into addiction, with every ounce of their data mined and monetized by corporations. Or maybe it was simply the state of our country and our world: the climate instability, the routine school shooting drills, the political polarization, the greed and selfishness of our leaders, the grim economic prospects for those about to graduate.